


Louder Than Sirens

by Bhujerban



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Detective Noir, F/M, I wanted to read an urban fantasy noir, Private Investigator!Link, Slow Burn, Witch!Zelda, so I wrote an urban fantasy noir
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:41:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26325070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bhujerban/pseuds/Bhujerban
Summary: Strange magicks are afoot when Private Investigator Link finds an amulet enchanted by the powerful urban witch Zelda at the scene of a theft. It feels like fate has brought them together as they are plunged headlong into a mystery that uncovers more than either of them could have anticipated.BoTW-ish ZeLink. Urban Fantasy Noir AU.
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 90
Kudos: 176





	1. A House in the Woods and a Woman in the City

**Author's Note:**

> Hi friends! This is a story I'm really excited to tell. It's the ultimate indulgent write what you want to read story, so I hope you guys like reading it as much as I loved writing it!
> 
> Thanks to Jenseits_der_Sterne and MuseLover1901 for their comments. Special thanks to dontwaitupxx for being my number 1 fan on this!

Link killed the engine of his motorcycle. He leaned the bike against the kickstand as the growl of the engine faded away. Taking off his helmet, he looked up at the mansion in front of him. The building was monstrously large, but it was to be expected in this neighborhood. The double panel door was a beautiful stained oak, with brass knockers shaped like lions. The owner of the house was wealthy and definitely wanted everyone to know.

Link checked his watch, _7:20 AM_. Ten minutes early.

He put away his helmet and pulled out the client folder. Jovani Gengle had come by the agency earlier in the week to hire Link to investigate the disappearance of some priceless magical artifact from his private collection. Usually Link liked to stay out of the petty business of the rich and pompous, but Gengle had waved a paycheck too enticing to pass up. It had been some time since the _Forest and Gale Agency_ had been hired for such a large contract. Revali would never have let him hear the end of it if he'd turned it down.

The case didn't seem out of the ordinary. Someone had broken into Gengle's multi-million rupee mansion and stolen an item from his private collection of art and curiosities. The likely suspects were the usual: ex-lovers, jealous collectors, and other obscenely rich business people with too much money and time on their hands. Link's presence had been requested at the scene of the crime to see if he could trace any of the magicks that were employed during the robbery.

"I would have called the local PD about this but there are some artifacts in my collection of a more…sensitive nature." Gengle had told him, with a slight smirk. "You understand right, Mr. Forester?"

 _By Hylia_ , he hated dealing with the rich. He hadn't quit his job with the Castletown PD to lick the boots of the wealthy. But alas, ideals and daydreams didn't pay the bills.

Snapping the file shut, Link took a look around. The mansion was situated on twenty acres of land, the closest neighbors were probably too far away to observe anything. The driveway to the mansion was long, since the house was situated some distance away from the main road. Link made a mental note to follow up with the neighbors anyway. The mansion was surrounded by trees, the leaves were hues of red and yellow as autumn descended. The early morning light sparkled against the remnants of dew, still half crystallized into frost.

The mansion was protected by at least ten wards. He could sense the flow of magical energy pushing against him, tingling against his senses and probing at his intention. The spells were strong. The mage who had cast them was probably of a relatively high class. This level of protection would not have come cheap. Based on the way the magic sparked against his senses, Link guessed it was Gerudo handiwork. He would have to get a closer look at the spell runes to be sure.

There were large spotlights hidden among the bushes in front of the house. Motion sensors, if Link had to guess. He peered up at the walls and spotted a security camera. He would have to get that footage later. At least Gengle had the good sense to back up the wards with electronic security.

After a few moments, he heard a shuffle by the door. A glance at his watch confirmed that it was seven thirty, so he made his way to the front doors. The arched doorway loomed. With one hand in the pocket of his leather jacket, Link lifted the brass knocker and rapped three times.

The door was pulled open as soon as he dropped the knocker, a man dressed in a black and white uniform greeted him.

"Private Investigator Forester?"

"Link is fine," he said, "You must be the butler."

The man nodded and stepped away from the door. "I am Poe, Mr. Gengle mentioned that you would be coming by this morning to investigate the robbery last week."

Link stepped into the mansion. The interior was as flashy as the exterior. The walls were lined with red wallpaper and hung with paintings. Rich mahogany furniture was accented with gold hardware. Even just being in the foyer made Link's skin crawl. There was a stillness in the house that made him feel uneasy.

Poe gestured for him to follow, "Mr. Gengle is expecting company today and hopes that the investigation can be completed quickly."

Link followed him silently, noting the press of magic against him. Many of the wards were centralized in the foyer. That made sense, given that it was the primary entrance into the mansion. As they made their way down the hallway, the magical pressure lessened, but a strong current of power still lingered. A glance at the windows revealed that each of the windows were individually warded with minor sparking spells. Gengle spared no expense in protecting his home.

Poe led Link through an arched doorway into a dimly lit room. The temperature in the room was a few degrees colder than the hallway and the air was drier. Link glanced at the tapestries hung on the wall, the atmospheric changes were probably to help preserve the integrity of the collection.

"Here we are, Mr. Forester: Mr. Gengle's private collection. This is where the statue was housed before the theft. I will be happy to answer any questions you may have. I know this house better than anyone."

Link scanned the room. Single entrance through the hallway. No windows. Heavy press of magic, still electricity based. Statues and contraptions were situated throughout. His eyes settled on what looked like a bottle of Great Fairy Tears set on a pedestal; selling and buying Great Fairy Tears had been banned for decades. No wonder Gengle didn't get the police involved in this investigation—who knew what the police might uncover here.

In the middle of the room there was an empty pedestal under a large spotlight. Clearly whatever had been in that spot was of great importance. Jovani Gengle had been vague with his job description, dancing around the details of what exactly had been taken from him that had him so distraught. Link took a few steps towards the pedestal.

"Ah," Poe materialized next to him. "This was the spot that held the most prized object in Mr. Gengle's collection."

Link turned to Poe, "What was it?"

Poe seemed to produce a folder out of thin air. "Here is all of the information about it." He handed the folder over.

Opening the folder, Link had to bite back a laugh. On the very first page was a photograph of a golden statue of Jovani himself. His eyes were replaced with blue gemstones, and his waist was lined with multicoloured gems. It was an outrageous statue, by any standard. And on his head…

"Is that…" Link held the photo a little closer.

"Oh yes. It is a cat." Poe didn't need to look at the picture to understand what Link was asking about. "Mr. Gengle commissioned this statue to commemorate the life of his favourite cat."

The rich were ridiculous. Link leafed through the rest of the file. The cost of the commission could probably have paid off the national debt of a small nation. The statue itself was insured for an exorbitant amount, even without any real resale value. He looked at the statue again. It would be near impossible to sell this statue without being caught. Perhaps it could be melted down, and the gemstones sold individually?

Link glanced around the room again. But why would someone take the ridiculous statue and go through all that effort instead of grabbing one of the many other valuable items that could be sold much more easily? A personal vendetta was a likely motive. The ultra-rich seemed to have no shortage of petty grudges and rivalries with each other. The statue was probably sitting in some other rich guy's multi-car garage right now. It was just a matter of tracking down the cronies that had been hired to conduct the theft.

"Could you tell me more about the security system?" Link asked.

"Certainly." Poe produced another folder— _where was he keeping these?—_ and handed it to Link. 

"Mr. Gengle has floodlights equipped with motion sensors for the front entrance, five security cameras facing the exterior. I will get you the tapes for the night of the robbery. Beyond electronic security, Mr. Gengle has employed the services of the witch, Madam Teake. She warded the house about two years ago in the Gerudo tradition."

Link frowned. He knew that the wards had been cast by a Gerudo mage, but hadn't expected it to be Teake. He knew of her: she was a Gerudo court trained witch, one of the more powerful mages in the city. Whoever was able to break in must have had strong magicks at their disposal.

Carefully, Link stepped around the pedestal. He could sense the extra wards that had been cast to protect the statue. But he could also sense where the spell had been cut off. It was as if the pedestal was surrounded by a glass cage, but someone had dismantled one pane. Whoever had done this had been deliberate _—_ a surgeon's delicate work. Link held his hand over the unprotected spot, sensing the vacancy of magic.

His eyes were drawn to the tile directly beneath his hand; it was slightly misaligned with the surrounding pieces. He squatted down to get a closer look and tapped on the tile. It sounded hollow. Shooting a look at an equally surprised Poe, Link pulled out his pocket knife and pried the tile from the ground. He ignored Poe's noise of distress as the tile came loose easily.

Someone had dug a small hole into the foundation underneath the tile and slipped something inside. Link reached in and removed a small satin bag.

"I take it that this is not part of the gallery?" Link asked Poe.

"No sir."

Link snapped a few photos of the tile and hole on his phone before standing. Whatever was in the bag was powerful, he could sense that much without even looking at it. With Poe hovering curiously over his shoulder, Link opened the pouch and poured the object inside onto his hand.

An amulet tumbled out. A large topaz was strung on a delicate silver chain. The stone itself was of high quality: clear and shiny. But what struck Link the most was the force of the magic swirling around it. The signature was different from Teake's. Instead of sparking against his awareness, the enchantment on the amulet seemed to glow. The magic felt warm and familiar, like coming home after a long day. The force of it was distracting.

This must have been the object that allowed the intruders to break in. Link could sense the electricity resistance spell woven into the topaz. The strength of the magic was repelling the effects of all of the carefully constructed spells in the room. Teake's wards were designed to shock intruders with electricity, but if they were wearing this amulet, the effect would have been negligible. Not a lot of mages could have made an amulet this powerful.

He turned the amulet over in his hand. On the back of the pendant, in elegant lettering were the letters ' _ZBH_.' Oh. That explained it.

He frowned, this case was getting stranger and stranger.

Link turned to Poe, "Why is an amulet made by the _Princess of Magick_ buried under the tiles here?"

Poe only shrugged. "Mr. Gengle may be wealthy, but even he could not afford Miss Bosphoramus's consultation fees to ward the house."

Link was not surprised. Zelda Bosphoramus Hyrule was known as one of the most powerful mages in the city. Her family had descended from some line of ancient Hylian nobility, so she had grown up in the spotlight. Her affinity for magic was well documented in the media. They had dubbed her the _Princess of Magick_ , after her meteoric rise to the top of magical power rankings against mages twice her age. Link had never met her in person, but her reputation preceded her.

It was strange, however, that this amulet would be left behind. Based on the strength and quality, it would have cost a small fortune. This was the type of treasure that families would save as heirlooms. What was it doing buried under a tile at the scene of a theft?

Perhaps a calling card? A taunt to Gengle? The price of the amulet was probably equal to the ridiculous statue.

"Do any of Gengle's enemies have ties to Miss Bosphoramous?" Link slipped the amulet back into the satin bag and into his pocket.

"No. Mr. Gengle and his…associates don't usually require magicks of that strength."

Link nodded to himself. People who commissioned work from the Princess were on a different level than Gengle. So what was this amulet doing here? Something about the entire situation made him uneasy.

Dusting off his hands, he turned to Poe and said, "Could I get a list of Gengle's known business rivals and ex-lovers? And a full list of the staff employed here."

"Of course. Whatever you need."

* * *

By the time Link arrived at the office, it was already late afternoon. He'd spent the rest of the morning inspecting the mansion, the various protections, and tracing the different entrances that could have been taken. After that, he knocked on the doors of the neighbours. Unsurprisingly, nobody had heard anything. Link rode around the estate to get a sense of the area and to see if he could pick up any traces of magic. With the mansion surrounded by woods, the magical energy cycled quickly and erased most traces within days. But with the amulet burning a hole in his pocket, he was able to trace the faint, lingering trail through the main entrance. Whoever carried the amulet had entered through the front door.

At Link's request, Poe had emailed him the security footage for the three days surrounding the theft. He would have to spend a few hours powering through the film. Or…

"Oi Revali." Link threw a wadded notepaper at his partner. "What are you doing?"

Revali batted the paper away. "Working, obviously. One of us has to."

"Great," Link said, "I need some footage looked at and I have an errand to run. I'll send it over for you."

"Wait a minute, I never agreed to this!"

"You're on the Monster Cake case right?" Link rolled his chair over to Revali's desk and glanced down at the files. "We've already procured the shipment of Monster Extract for them, so the case is basically over. Besides, this stolen statue case has a far bigger payout."

Revali grumbled a little, but opened up the security footage. "You'd better not be shoving this off on me so that you can mess around."

Link rolled back to his desk and picked his jacket up from the back of the seat. "Come on Revali," he slipped his jacket back on, "you know me better than that. I'm off to meet a _Princess."_

It had taken a few detailed internet searches and a couple of well placed calls, but Link finally found the address for Zelda Bosphoramus Hyrule's consulting firm. It was a closely guarded secret that was shared only by those in the know. After all, those that could afford her services had a network of their own and they were known to be quite tight-lipped.

He was surprised to learn that her office was in the heart of the city, located in the old, historic district of Castletown. Most mages liked to live in areas surrounded by nature, where magic circulated more freely. He'd asked Mipha about it before and she told him that it was easier for mages to tap into the magical energies where the currents were stronger. It made sense then, that mages would live in locations that optimized their powers.

As he pulled up at the address, he took in the building in front of him. It looked regular enough, a two-story house with a stone facade that matched the buildings surrounding it. But as he wheeled his motorcycle closer to the entrance, he could sense the magic emanating from the doorway. Link was particularly sensitive to the presence of spells and wards, but he wondered how nobody else noticed the sheer power that the building seemed to exude. He parked his motorcycle, tucked the files under his arm, and hopped up the steps.

Link rang the buzzer and could feel the swirl of a spell probe at him. After a few rings, the intercom crackled to life.

"Yes?" Came a voice from the other side.

"Hello Miss Bosphoramus, my name is Link Forester. I found something of yours and was hoping for a moment of your time."

"How did you get this address?"

"I wouldn't be much of a private investigator if I couldn't find anybody."

"We don't accept walk-in appointments."

"Well," Link pulled the bag from his pocket and slipped the amulet out, certain there was at least one camera trained on him, "I found this at the scene of a crime I'm investigating and I thought you might want to know about it."

There was a pause. "A moment, then."

Link held back a smile when the line cut out. After a moment, the front door clicked open.

A woman pulled the door open with a glare. "You know, it's pretty rude to just show up on peoples' doorsteps without advanced notice." she told him sourly, "Zellie and I are in the middle of some important research!"

It wasn't the Princess herself. The woman at the door was Sheikah, with the distinctive silver hair and red eyes. Link was surprised to see a Sheikah in the city, as they were a secretive clan that kept to themselves and their village.

"Well?" The Sheikah woman gave him an unimpressed look and pushed her large, red glasses up her nose. "Are you just gonna stand there and stare like a cow? Come in, snippity snap!"

Link entered the house, feeling the wash of magic over him. There was quite a difference between the inside and outside. The exterior of the house was traditional and matched the architecture of the historic district, but the interior had been renovated with clean lines and marble tiling. A staircase led upstairs and a hallway led to the back of the house.

The woman pointed down the hallway and said, "You can wait in the sitting room at the end of the hall. Zellie will come down when she's ready."

Before he could respond, the woman turned around and bounded up the stairs. Alone, Link made his way down the hall. He turned the corner into the sitting room and immediately realized why this was prime real estate in Castletown. While the entrance and hallway were small and lit by artificial lighting, the sitting room was an open space with the entire back wall replaced by giant windows that looked out onto the Hylia River.

The sitting room was sleek and modern; all dark oak and minimalist furnishing. Not at all what he expected for a witch’s residence. The high ceilings and the giant windows caught the last of the dusk light, painting the interior a dramatic array of oranges and reds. Link took a seat on one of leather armchairs and set the file down on the coffee table. He could sense the magic around him, the enchantments and wards woven thick and powerful into the very structure of the house. The signature of the magic was distinctive: a dance in the summer rain, a Silent Princess growing in the wild, Nayru’s blessings under a starlit sky. Like seeing the world for the first time, like coming home—it captivated him.

He leaned into the seat and closed his eyes. The golden magic suffused across his awareness, making him feel alive. Whoever warded this house was definitely the same person who enchanted the amulet.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.” A woman’s voice echoed across the room. 

His eyes shot open and up to the figure at the door. She was beautiful. A crown of long blonde hair framed sharp green eyes. She wore a dark blue pantsuit, the colour contrasting with her crisp white blouse. Her sleeves slightly pushed up to reveal thin, delicate wrists. She stood for a moment and studied him in return. He wondered what she saw. He was struck by a moment of intense déjà vu, as if he had lived this moment over, and over before.

He rose to his feet and cleared his throat, “Ms. Bosphoramus, I assume?”

She made her way over to him and offered him her hand. When he took it, he felt the true weight of her magic—the eye of all storms.

 _She will be trouble_ , he thought.

"Mr. Forester," she enunciated all the syllables, as if testing out the words, "what can I do for you?"

"Link is fine. Mr. Forester is my father," he joked.

She did not smile.

Determined not to let her get to him, he pulled the amulet from his pocket. "Is this your work?"

She reached for the amulet. His fingertips brushed her palm for a moment and a ripple of energy traveled up his arm. He paused. Her hands stilled as her eyes flicked to his. Their eyes met like two waves crashing, the resulting interference stilling the stormy waters. A temporary peace. She pulled her hands away and focused her attention on the amulet.

"Yes," she studied the piece of jewelry, "this is one of my electricity resistance amulets. I have made quite a few of these."

"Do you recognize this one in particular?"

"No. I pride myself in the consistency of my work. Each amulet should be exactly the same." She fixed those remarkable green eyes on him, "What is this about?"

Link picked up the file and opened it to the photo of the atrocious statue. He handed it to her. "I'm investigating the theft of this statue from a client."

"It's atrocious."

He bit back a laugh, "It's extremely valuable."

She scoffed. "It was costly to make. Doesn't make it valuable."

"Regardless," he pushed on, "my client wants it back."

"Well, I don't have it," she gestured around her sitting room. "It's not quite my taste."

"No, of course not. I'm here about the amulet." Link said, "My client's home was warded by the Gerudo witch, Teake, but someone managed to break in and steal his statue."

She raised a delicate brow, "Teake is a strong mage. Trained by Lady Urbosa herself. It would have taken quite some magic to counter."

Link nodded and said, "Imagine my surprise when I found your amulet at the scene of the theft."

"This enchantment isn't structured to counter protective wards, it shouldn't have been possible."

"And yet here we are."

She frowned as she rubbed the surface of the topaz. She closed her eyes and a small wrinkle formed between her brows as she concentrated. Link watched her work. He could feel her pulling at the magical energy, siphoning it towards her intention. Seeing a witch of her calibre at work was breathtaking.

After a moment, she opened her eyes. "A loophole," she declared, frustration in her voice. "Someone subverted part of the enchantment and opened it to the possibility of misuse. I can't believe I missed that."

"It couldn't have been easy. Your magic is so complete and powerful that finding such a loophole would have been difficult for an ordinary mage."

"I can think of maybe five people who could have done this."

"And they are?"

She gave him a sharp look. "Trade secrets, Mr. Forester."

"I don't care about squabbles between mages, Miss Bosphoramous. I just want to find my client's sculpture."

"It's not about squabbles. It could be an issue of public safety..." she murmured, just as much to herself as to him.

"Could you provide me with a list of people who have purchased these amulets from you?"

"Absolutely not." She leveled him with a sharp look. "Mr. Forester, I know you are trying to do your job, but you must understand _my_ job. My clients come to me with requests for enchantments and wards under strict confidentiality."

"I promise you, I'm not here to find out which high-powered lawyer has purchased an anti-shock amulet for his electricity kink. I'm just _—_ "

"Excuse me?" She cut him off, eyes burning with fury. "You think I sell my magic just as some _toy_? Some novelty plaything for the rich?"

He blinked at her, but shrugged,

"No." Her tone is clipped and final. "I thank you for bringing this matter to my attention and I will deal with this internally. If I happen to come across any information about this missing statue of yours, I will get in touch."

"Miss Bo _—_ "

" _Thank you_ , Mr. Forester." Her voice left no room for argument. "Now is there anything else I can help you with? It is getting late and I'm sure you have places to be."

Link clenched his jaw. He didn't mean it as a slight. He didn't care who she sold her wares to, he just wanted answers. The wealthy tended to keep ridiculous secrets anyway. Though, remembering the house he was in, she probably fit right in among them.

He pulled a business card from his pocket. "Thank you for your time." He handed her the card, "Please give me a call if anything comes up."

She took the card without looking at it.

"Of course," she said in a tone that suggested otherwise. "I'll show you out."

Link made his way back to the front door and she followed closely behind him. He glanced at her once more over his shoulder before he stepped out of the house. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes alive with focus, and her lips drawn into a tight line. 

She was intriguing, he admitted. Beautiful, certainly. Powerful, absolutely. But she was fierce in a way that fascinated him. It was too bad that she was so determined to be unhelpful.

He stepped out onto the porch and turned. He came face to face with the door as it clicked shut. He couldn't help the wry smile as he heard the turn of the lock.

 _What a woman_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come say hi on [Tumblr —I'm BhujerbanWrites](http://bhujerbanwrites.tumblr.com/). I've posted some behind the scenes stuff and some mood boards there. A playlist is maybe incoming!


	2. The Moon and Other Spells

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone for their lovely feedback on chapter 1! I was worried that this AU was too specific and indulgent, but I'm glad that other people are into the same brand of nonsense as I am.
> 
> Thanks to Jenseits_der_Sterne and socksock for helping me figure out commas and dialogue tags. Thanks to MuseLover1901 and dontwaitupxx for their encouragement and feedback!

"It's not your fault, Zellie."

"Not my fault?" Zelda's voice was slightly hysterical. "Not my fault? Someone used my magic to commit a crime! They were able to do it because I missed something!"

Purah brought a plate of sugar cookies to the research bench Zelda was sitting at. "You've been enchanting these electricity resistant amulets for years and it's never been a problem."

"That makes it worse!" Zelda wailed. "I've been sending amulets into the market with a serious vulnerability for years."

"Now, now." Purah picked a cookie from the plate, "We both know that there aren't many people that could have identified the loophole, much less alter your enchantment."

"How could I miss this?"

"You weren't the only one," Purah pointed out, "Robbie and I always help you with new enchantments and we missed it too."

"It's _my name_ out there, Purah! My clients are trusting _me._ "

"Okay, enough." Purah slapped Zelda's fidgeting hands. "No more whining, we have to figure out what's going on. How are we going to fix this?"

Zelda rubbed her stinging fingers with a petulant glare at Purah.

"I've pulled up the records for every topaz amulet I've ever sold. I'm sending out emails to confirm that all the units are accounted for and ask that they bring them in for the patch." Zelda pulled her Sheikah Slate from the pile of books and pulled up her spreadsheets. "Then I'm going to check my other amulets to see if they have the same vulnerabilities."

Purah nodded, "Now that we know what to look for, Robbie and I can look for issues with other enchantments." She said through a mouthful of cookies.

Zelda sighed dramatically and said, "What a disaster."

She turned back to the research bench and flipped through the records on her Slate. The electricity resistance amulet was an expensive piece of specialty equipment that she didn't sell that many units of. Governor Dorephan ordered ten amulets for his personal guard, due to the Zora sensitivity to electricity. Mayor Anly had an order of three amulets for Lakeside Stable for lightning storms in the Faron region. Urbosa had commissioned five amulets for the Gerudo who worked within the Vah Naboris power plant. The Rito historian, Kass, had purchased an amulet for his expedition to Calora Lake.

With the quality of the amulets and her prominence as a mage, Zelda could have sold several more of the enchantments to various wealthy patrons who would have been willing to pay exorbitant prices for them. But she knew that her fate was inseparably tied to that of Hyrule, so her commitment to magic went beyond simple matters of rupees. She thought back to Link Forester's disparaging comments. He didn't know the slightest thing about her if he thought that her concerns were with petty mage rankings or the reputation of rich clients. She touched the rings strung around her neck and felt the familiar push of magic against her senses. He had no idea how much she had sacrificed in the name of magical balance.

Right now, she needed to track down each of the amulets she sold and make sure that they were all accounted for and safe. There was no time to worry about what some random man thought about her, no matter how he frustrated her.

Zelda spent the next few hours emailing, calling and arranging for the transport of the amulets. Since they were such precious objects, special precautions had to be taken to ensure they would arrive safely at her lab. Purah flitted around behind her, testing the enchantments on her other resistance amulets.

Once all of the amulets were accounted for, Zelda turned back to her research. She was itching to figure out how someone found a loophole in her spell. She pulled a topaz amulet from the shelf; she always had a few spare amulets from her prototyping and her friends were often the lucky recipients of early batches.

She thought back to the corrupted amulet that the private investigator had brought by earlier. On the surface, it seemed like everything was fine, the enchantment was bound to the topaz, drawing on the gem's natural affinity to electricity. But she could sense the slight variation in the spell. She reached for her notebook on overhead bookshelf and flipped it open to a blank page.

Grabbing a pen from her desk organizer, she tapped one against her chin as she thought. There was a trace of something foreign and wild bound to her spell—something she'd never experienced before. She would have to check the Sheikah Library for references to this type of magick. But the manipulation itself was simple, there was an exploit in the raw material itself that facilitated the binding of the strange, unknown magicks.

She jotted down everything she could remember from her brief analysis of the hacked amulet. As she looked down at her scribbled notes and diagrams, it became clear how the exploitation spell worked and, more importantly, how to patch the amulets against future manipulations.

With practiced hands, Zelda drew out a chalk spell circle on her table. Purah came to stand behind her, quietly observing her. Zelda set the amulets in the center of the circle and concentrated. Energy swirled around her, and she channeled it into the circle. Her eyes fluttered shut as she worked, focusing on weaving the strands of magic into her spell. It only took a moment.

She opened her eyes and exhaled. Finished.

Purah darted forward and snatched the amulet from the table. She flipped her goggles on, sliding them over her glasses for an almost comical effect. Zelda waited as Purah studied her handiwork.

"Well done, Zellie." Purah told her, "Might be some of your cleanest work yet."

Zelda rolled her shoulders back. "Thanks, Purah." She jotted down the configuration of the spell circle into her notebook, "Do the other amulets have the same issue?"

"No," Purah set the amulet back on the table and set her goggles back on top of her head, "only the topaz had the problem. I suspect it has something to do with orthorhombic crystal structure that impacted the way it holds enchantment."

The two of them debated the physical and magical properties of the various gems for a while, trying to determine the specific source of the vulnerability and how they could mitigate future issues. This was the work that Zelda lived for: the thrill of experimentation, discovery, _science_. She kept the magic consulting business because she needed to; the governing powers didn't trust anybody outside the Bosphoramus Hyrule lineage with issues of public security. It meant that she spent more time warding public spaces and keeping the peace than exploring the frontiers of magic.

Luckily after her high school practicum with the Sheikah, Purah and Robbie had taken a shine to her and informally inducted her into their research group. Even her father couldn't turn down the directors of the Sheikah Institute of Magical Research. It meant that, in between her traditional studies, Zelda got to spend part of the last decade happily immersed in advancing the potential of magic. Especially in the aftermath of her father's passing, it was nice to have a place that she belonged.

She and Purah worked late into the night, trying various ways of breaking the additional enchantments she'd added to the amulet and discussing the various raw material affinities. By the time they pulled themselves from their work, the moon hung high in the sky.

"We're going to get another blood moon tomorrow," Purah remarked, sleepily rubbing her eyes. "I think that's the second one this year."

Zelda glanced at the moon through the skylight. It loomed large in the sky. With the brightness of the moon, the stars were barely visible.

"I didn't take you for a superstitious type," Zelda replied. "We both know the red during the lunar eclipse is just the result of Rayleigh scattering."

Purah shrugged. "Celestial movement is known to have some effects on magical energy flow. Lunar eclipses are not that common. We might see some variations in spellcasting in the next couple of days."

"We could run some experiments. Test the changes in spell strength over the course of a lunar eclipse. You, me, and Robbie would be a small sample size, but if we each cast twenty enchantments during and after the eclipse, we could have one hundred and twenty data points to analyze. It could be—"

Zelda cut herself off as Purah yawned. "Maybe we can discuss this in the morning."

Purah nodded and said, "Okie dokie. I'm gonna call the car."

"Are you sure you don't want to stay in the spare room? I've got spare linens and things if you need."

"Nah, it's okay. I don't sleep well unless I'm under my own wards anyway. I'll send Robbie by tomorrow for a third set of eyes on the work we did today."

"Tell him to come early," Zelda said with a yawn. "Daruk rescheduled with me last minute, so I'm meeting him tomorrow to check some structural security at city hall after hours. I want to get all the amulets fixed before then."

"Alright, don't work yourself too hard." Purah packed her notes away before heading down the stairs.

She followed Purah to the door and waved as she got into the driverless car. As the car rounded the corner, Zelda shut the door. She turned the lock and set the electronic alarm before checking her wards. The spells were bound to the very foundation of the house and drew on the magical energy that flowed with the river. She had carved each rune herself and was careful to bolster each ward every few months. A quick once-over of the house told her that her magic held strong.

Satisfied that everything was in place, Zelda headed to bed.

* * *

"No regular mage could have figured this out." Robbie shouted to Zelda over the music.

"What?"

"No regular mage—" Zelda turned down the audio mid-guitar solo, "Hey! I was listening to that." Robbie complained.

He liked to play music in the lab when it was just the two of them. Purah would fight with him about it if all three of them were there together. She ignored him and asked, "What were you saying?"

He held the patched topaz amulet out to her and said, "It would have taken a heck of a mage to find your loophole. I can only spot it now that you've pointed it out and I'm…well, me!"

"How did we miss this? I spent a lot of time making sure that my enchantments would only be used for self-defense!"

Robbie fiddled with his goggles for a moment before turning to her. "Honestly, if you didn't show this to me, I would have said it was impossible. None of the other gems you use have the same crystal structure that topaz does and the kind of magick you described bound to the enchantment is rare. Only someone with serious knowledge of raw material associations and uncommon magicks could have figured this out, and not many people still study that these days."

"You could have done it."

"Given enough time, probably." Robbie rubbed his chin as he thought, "Purah too. Maybe two or three other Sheikah researchers could have found the loophole."

Zelda fidgeted with the chain around her neck. "But not all of them have the magical strength to make the change."

"Maybe one or two of them could have," he admitted.

"Did they?"

Robbie's brows shot up. "Now, now, Princess. I know that you're frustrated but you can't just go around accusing my research team of something like this."

"Don't call me that," she muttered halfheartedly, but she knew he was right. The Sheikah research institute had been nothing but committed to the advancement of magick. It was near blasphemous that she was accusing any of the researchers of hacking her enchantment. "And don't let Purah know you called it your research team," she added.

"I'll call it what it is. I'm not scared of her." Robbie hopped off his stool and made his way to the door. "But don't tell her I said that—she'll screech my ear off and I'll never live it down."

Zelda heard him make his way out of the lab and into the kitchenette down the hall. Letting out a sigh, she placed her forehead on the bench. So far, Robbie had confirmed all the results that she and Purah discovered the night before.

She was dying to figure out who did this. She wasn't even mad, she just wanted to know who could possibly have bested her at spell casting.

Besides, she turned her head to the side, resting her cheek on the table, why would they do this and leave it at the scene of a theft if not as a message to her? What did this have to do with that atrocious statue? Her gaze drifted out the window. The sky was a vibrant, clear blue and reminded her of the private investigator's eyes. _Link Forester_ , she thought, glancing at the closed drawer next to her, where she had tossed his business card the night before. The last thing she'd expected during a brainstorming session with Purah was for a stranger to show up with a hacked amulet. She thought about him: his long, sandy hair, beat up leather jacket, the easy, feline grace with which he moved—whoever he was, he was trouble.

And yet…when his fingers brushed her palms as he handed her the amulet, there was a glimmer of something that passed between them. Something familiar and foreign all at once. It was all she could do to keep a straight face. It didn't seem to be a spell because she didn't sense any enchantments on him. That in and of itself was strange because most people started their days with a good luck spell in one form or another. But her body had reacted to him in a way she didn't understand.

How was he involved in all of this? Was he simply a messenger for whoever wanted to taunt her?

But every single topaz amulet she'd sold was accounted for. And besides, nobody that she sold the amulet to would have used it for nefarious purposes. Her client list was carefully vetted by Impa. Where did that amulet come from?

She sat up from her seat with a groan. Too many questions, not enough answers. She hated it.

Robbie reappeared with two mugs and set one down on the table next to her. "It would help if we could get our hands on the hacked amulet," he said. "We could spend some time tracing the magical signature of the subversion spell."

"Yes, but it didn’t seem like that PI would be willing to just give his evidence to us."

"Not even if you bat your eyelashes at him a bit?"

Zelda gave an unladylike snort. "Back to work, Robbie."

Between her and Robbie, the two of them made quick work of the amulets that began arriving in the afternoon. Most of her clients had opted to send their own personal envoys to deliver the electricity amulets for check up. Governor Dorephan had sent a member of his personal guard, while Urbosa had Captain Liana come all the way from Gerudo Town. Cima, the mayor's assistant, had brought the amulets from Lakeside Stable and spent the waiting time complaining about how the lightning was constantly striking the train station. Zelda made a mental note to check with Mayor Anly about the wards. Only Kass had opted for a delivery service, since he hadn't been able to get away from his research.

With the spell circles pre-drawn and the enchantment patch itself well practiced, it only took a few moments to fix up the enchantments. As she handled each amulet, she noted with some satisfaction that they were all in good condition and would likely last quite a few decades if all went well.

When the last of the visitors headed out the door, Zelda and Robbie shared half a fruitcake.

"I'll drop off Kass's amulet at the Magick delivery service on my way home, hmm?" Robbie suggested.

"Oh, it's alright. I can do it before my meeting with Daruk."

"No can do, Princess. I've got strict instructions to keep you from working too hard."

"Don't call me that." Zelda dabbed at the corner of her mouth with a napkin. "It's not much more work for me to drop off the amulet since I'm already headed out."

"You shouldn't be doing that either! What happened to taking Fridays off?"

"It can't be helped. I can't exactly say ‘no’ to a meeting with the Head of Defense, can I?” Zelda said with some resignation. “Besides, it's not like I do anything on my days off except stay at home and watch bad reality television by myself anyway. I can just do it another day."

Robbie hummed, unconvinced. "I'll take the amulet, you just worry about your meeting."

"Thanks, Robbie."

* * *

The meeting with Daruk went smoothly. He was courteous and helpful, pointing out all the spaces in the building that had holes in the electronic and physical security systems. Daruk was an enthusiastic collaborator, since he was passionate about combining magic and electronics to produce comprehensive safety protocols. It was refreshing. Working together, he and Zelda came up with a robust security update for city hall.

She promised to draft up the proper runes for the wards and send him the finished proposal. They would present it to the governor together soon.

Zelda sat in the back of her driverless car on her way home. She adjusted the collar of her dress shirt absently as she looked out the window. The sun was long gone, the city was faintly lit with a series of lamps and bright signs. Steam rose from the subway grates, causing the ground to look like a blurry apparition. Nighttime in the historic district of Castletown felt like a different world. The usually bustling sidewalks and storefronts were empty and shuttered. The streets were nearly empty, the footsteps of the few stragglers seemed to echo against the cobblestone roads.

She rolled down the window and breathed deeply. Overhead, the lunar eclipse cast the moon in red shadow. The frosty bite of the nighttime air warned of the impending winter. The blow of wind against her face stung a little, but she relished in it, feeling the accompanying undercurrent of energy. Zelda was a child of the summer, blossoming under the sun. But winter sharpened her in a way that the heat of summer didn't. She often did her best work in the dark of winter.

When the car turned the corner into her neighbourhood, a chill ran up her spine that had nothing to do with the cold. She sat up straighter and pushed her magical senses outward. There was something profoundly wrong here, broken magicks protruding with jagged edges. She'd warded the neighbourhood, back when she first bought the house. But those were minor enchantments of safety, to keep those with ill intent away. Breaking them would not have left such a strong effect on the flow of magical energy. A sinking feeling of dread settled into her stomach, she could only think of one place where the wards were strong enough to cause this disruption.

As the car drew closer to her house, a panicked feeling of nausea rose. The broken magicks grated against her senses, nails on the chalkboard, like someone reached deep into her and was unspooling her bit by bit. The feelings grew as the car pulled up to her house.

When the car rolled across the threshold of her property, the source of her discomfort was immediately clear: while she was away at her meeting, someone had come to the house and ripped the protective wards from the building. Since Zelda had warded the house while renovations were being done, many of her enchantments had been carved into the building itself. She'd been careful to weave together potent protective magicks that were near undetectable to the regular person—even to a moderate-level mage. How someone had both found and dismantled the wards frightened her.

As soon as the car stopped, she leapt out of the back seat and sprinted up the steps. The door was shut but unlocked. 

She hesitated in the doorway. It could be dangerous if whoever did this was still here. But she didn't even know what happened. She should go inside and find out, they've probably left by no—no wait—she needs protection. Maybe she should ward herself first—no wait—whoever broke in could break her wards. She needs physical protection. There's a crowbar in the trunk of the car. Maybe she could use that to defend herself. She did take a year of self-defense—no wait—what is she saying, she isn't equipped to physically defend herself against anyone.

She could feel her breath quicken and her heart race. She couldn't do this.

Zelda pulled out her phone with shaking hands. She dialed Urbosa's number. Her godmother's smiling face appeared on the screen as the phone rang.

She picked up on the third ring.

"Little bird!" Urbosa's warm voice calmed her a little. "I was just thinking about you. We got the amulets back safely and I must say—"

"Urbosa, I think something has happened." Zelda's voice was small and near unrecognizable even to herself.

Urbosa was immediately on alert, her tone sharp. "What's wrong?"

"I—I don't know." Zelda worried her lip between her teeth as she thought about what to say. "I just got home from a meeting and I think someone has broken into my house."

"Broken in? How is that possible? Did you dismantle your wards?"

"N-no." She can feel her voice shaking, "that's why I'm scared."

"Are they still there? Did you call for help already?"

"I don't know! I just got home and I don't know what to do."

"Call the police," Urbosa told her firmly. "Don't go in there by yourself. Then call the Sheikah, get one of them to come help you look at the wards."

"Right." Zelda could feel her racing heart slow a little as she was able to visualize her plans. "That's right. I can call for help."

Urbosa's voice was gentle when she said, "I could leave now and be there in six hours or so."

"Don't be silly. You don't have time to come here," Zelda pushed back, despite how much she wished for it.

"If you say so, but you know that if you need me, I'll be there, Little Bird. It's my duty as your godmother."

"Thank you Urbosa." Zelda straightened her back as she marched back to her car. She was an adult and she could handle this. "But there's no need. I'll call for help now."

"Be careful."

"I will be. I'll call you when things get figured out," Zelda promised.

"I can always send some of my militia to help if you need."

"Yes, well… hopefully it won't come to that."

After the line clicked off, Zelda climbed back into her car and locked the doors. She set her head between her knees and took five deep breaths. She willed her hands to stop shaking.

At length, she sat up and dialed for emergency services. In rapid, clipped tones, she explained the situation to the dispatcher on the other end. After confirming that the police were on their way, she hung up and punched in Purah's number. Over Purah's screeches of outrage, Zelda managed to tell her what was going on. There was the sound of rapid movement hushed whispers before Impa took over the line. Her calm, authoritative voice was soothing, in a way. After a short discussion, Impa promised that she and Purah were also on their way.

The police arrived in a whirlwind. The two attending officers filtered into the house first to make sure the intruders were gone before escorting Zelda in to check the state of the interior. Any rune that wasn’t hidden behind plaster or buried under floorboards was defaced. The runes on the doorframe were scratched over, the painting in the hallway was knocked down to carve out the rune hidden behind it, and the rune charms she hung around the house were smashed to bits on the floor. Yet somehow, despite the damages to the runes and the wards, the rest of the ground floor was untouched. 

But upstairs was a different story: both her bedroom and the lab were a mess. The drawers were pulled open, items were strewn haphazardly across the floor, and the bed was overturned. Despite the mess, nothing seemed to have been taken. Whoever broke in had clearly been looking for something. 

After taking her statement and a copy of her security footage, the police advised her to find somewhere else to stay for the night before leaving to take statements from the neighbours.

Zelda followed the officers to the door, pocketing the business cards that they handed her. She wasn’t holding her breath for much of a follow up. Nothing had been taken from her home and neither of the officers were magically inclined enough to realize the significance of the broken wards. Her case would probably have a low priority and remain unsolved until it went cold, despite her fears. She stood in the doorway and gave the officers a small wave as they left.

Purah and Impa arrived a few minutes after the officer left. Zelda sat on the front steps of her building, her head buried in her arms as she waited. She heard a car pull up and before she could even raise her head to look, two women jumped out of the car and embraced her. The sisters spoke rapidly over each other as they voiced their concerns.

"Are you okay?"

"How did this happen?"

"Did the police already leave?"

"Why are you out here alone?"

Zelda shook free from them and said loudly, "I'm fine, but I can't answer all of those questions at the same time."

The two Sheikah quieted down.

Purah touched the stone facade of the house with a pained expression and said, "It's worse than I feared."

Zelda nodded, fighting down her own nauseating mixture of terror and anxiety. She opened the door and gestured for the others to follow. "Let's go inside."

The three of them entered the house and wordlessly set to work. The intruder had managed to disrupt the ward by physically removing all the runes that were within reach. With a strategic number of runes defaced, the spells were left vulnerable. With the enchantment partially unanchored, whoever broke in had forced a large flow of energy at the weak points of the ward and ripped it open. Magical energy now spilled out of the unbalanced enchantment, like an oil spill infecting clean waters.

The wards couldn't be fixed right away—too much damage had been done. Still, they managed to close some of the gaping holes in the enchantment, temporarily smoothing over the magical disruption. Impa was not quite the mage that Purah and Zelda were, having spent her time honing her leadership skills instead of conducting magical research, but the three of them worked together seamlessly. They worked faster than usual but whether it was the effects of adrenaline or the lunar eclipse was unclear.

Exhausted, Zelda led the Purah and Impa into the lab where they all collapsed onto the seats.

"They didn't take any of the enchantments from the lab," Zelda croaked, her voice hoarse with fatigue.

"None?" Purah sat up straighter. "What were they after then?"

Zelda shook her head. "I don't know. Whatever it was, they either didn't find it or they were interrupted while looking."

Impa rubbed her temples. "They knew this was your house, they knew how to break the wards, but they couldn't find whatever they came for?"

Zelda chewed on her bottom lip as she thought. "They knew where the runes were and they bypassed the first floor. They must have been looking for something magical..."

"They turned the lab over looking. They must have known you would be out of the house, otherwise they wouldn't have had enough time," Purah added.

"But wait." Zelda frowned. "I wasn't supposed to be out of the house. Daruk called last minute yesterday to schedule a meeting for tonight. I'm usually home on Friday nights."

"They wanted you to be home?" Purah asked.

"I don't know." Zelda tugged at her necklace anxiously. "Maybe-"

"The rings!" Purah exclaimed, her eyes zeroing in on Zelda's hand.

Zelda froze, a cold chill spreading across her body. She glanced down at the rings around her neck, the blue and green gemstones glittered.

Impa's voice was grave. "If that's true, this could be extremely dangerous."

Magic pulsed off the rings. "They're after the Spiritual Stones," Zelda whispered, horrified. "They wanted me to be home. I think they knew I would be home alone so they could get the rings."

"We don't know that for sure," Purah said shakily.

"That has to be it," Zelda said. "What other explanation is there?"

The three of them fell silent.

"So what do we do now?" Purah glanced between Impa and Zelda.

"You can't stay here," Impa declared.

"No, it's not safe."

"You should come to Kakariko, you'll be safe there."

"I can't do that," Zelda said. "This is too dangerous. Whoever broke in here can _break my wards!_ Our magicks aren't effective. I can't bring them to your front door."

"It wouldn't just be us," Impa protested. "We'll get some of the clans’ members to come keep guard. Cado and Dorian work security jobs for the city anyway."

"No, I can't put everyone in the community at risk like that. Children live in Kakariko! I can't bring whatever this is to them."

"The clan would happily take the risk to keep you safe."

"Impa, I know you would, but there must be…" Zelda's voice trailed off as she spotted a business card in the open desk drawer.

"Zelda, the Sheikah are committed to you. You know that we will do whatever it takes to help."

"No." Zelda walked over to the drawer and picked up the business card. "What I need to do is to disappear, go off the grid. At least until we figure out what's going on."

"And how are we supposed to do that, Zellie?" Purah piped up.

"We hire someone." She showed them the business card. "Private Investigator Link Forester."

Impa raised her eyebrows incredulously. "You want to hire some stranger to investigate this?"

"No, I want to hire him to protect me." At the sisters' skeptical looks, she hurried on, "This whole thing happened after he showed up at my door with a hacked amulet. I don't think it's a coincidence. So I’ll convince him to protect me and we'll work on the case together. He doesn't use any magicks. I felt that from him, so he's perfect for this. Someone like him probably has contacts for an off the grid safe house or something."

"Zelda, this is highly unorthodox." Impa's skeptical look morphed into a full on frown. "You can't just trust some random private investigator like this. Not with your life. Not with those stones."

Zelda's hands shot up to the chain around her neck, "Impa, I know the importance of this. But… there's something about him. I think he's our best bet."

"He did manage to find this house yesterday," Purah chimed in.

Impa glared at her sister before turning back to Zelda. "And what if he doesn't agree to help you?"

"I'm going to hire him," she responded. "I think the contract is going to speak for itself."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did illustrations of [Private Investigator Link](https://bhujerbanwrites.tumblr.com/post/629471348941537280/this-is-private-investigator-link-from-my-urban) and [ Urban Witch Zelda](https://bhujerbanwrites.tumblr.com/post/629636688103243776/heres-witch-zelda-to-go-with-private-investigator), which you can see on my Tumblr, BhujerbanWrites.


	3. More Questions Than Answers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone for your enthusiasm for the story and patience with me as I work on it! It's a pretty difficult time in the world right now and I'm in the midst of my comprehensive exams/dissertation proposal so please continue to bear with me.
> 
> Also, now that HW AoC has shown us what young Impa, Purah, and Robbie look like. I am going to retcon the red streak in Purah’s hair!! 
> 
> Thanks to [Jenseits_der_Sterne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jenseits_der_Sterne/pseuds/Jenseits_der_Sterne) for looking this over for me! Thanks to [MuseLover1901](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MuseLover1901/pseuds/MuseLover1901) and [dontwaitupxx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontwaitupxx/pseuds/dontwaitupxx) for their feedback!!

Toss. Catch.

Link adjusted his grip on the beanbag before tossing it back into the air.

Toss.

_How did the perp get into the house?_

Catch.

_Using the amulet made by ZBH._

Toss.

_Why did they leave the amulet behind?_

Catch.

_To send a message._

Toss.

_Who was the message for?_

Catch.

_Jovani Gengle. Zelda Bosphoramus Hyrule. Him?_

Toss.

_What was the message? Why take the statue? Why not any of the other expensive artifacts? Why leave something even more valuable in its place? What is the connection between the Princess of Magicks and a ridiculous gold statue? Why did her magicks feel so familiar?_

Link caught the beanbag in his left hand. He had way more questions than answers. He sat up straighter in the recliner he had been sliding down and tossed the beanbag onto the coffee table.

He rubbed his temples. It had been a frustrating day. Because his impromptu meeting with Ms. Bosphoramus the night before had led to no leads, Revali had given him so much shit. Link had to spend the rest of the day in the office reviewing security footage and making coffee runs for his partner.

The footage had little information. Whoever broke into Gengle's mansion had taken pains to enchant themselves so that their figure and features appeared as a smudged blur on the screen, even when they were standing right in front of the camera. Despite all the money Gengle poured into warding his house, his electronic surveillance system was weak. The best security cameras on the market were enchanted to decrypt illusion spells for this exact reason. As it stood, he knew nothing about the thief except that they had access to strong magicks —which he already knew.

Link had taken the case files home with him, hoping that the change of scenery would inspire a breakthrough. So far, no luck, just a knot in his upper back from slouching into the couch.

The trill of his phone pulled him from his thoughts.

He leaned forward and picked it up from the coffee table. Unknown number. He checked the time. Nearly one thirty AM. Who in the world would be calling him at this time?

He accepted the call. "Hello?"

"Hello Mr. Forester. I'm Zelda Bosphoramus. We spoke yesterday."

He sat up straighter, "Ms. Bosphoramus, this is a surprise."

"Yes," her voice was clipped and efficient, but there was a tremor beneath it, "I didn't expect to be calling you either."

"Well, when I asked you to give me a call, I guess I didn't specify a time."

"There have been some new developments and I require assistance."

"You need my help? I don't know what's going on, but it's well after midnight and I do have working hours."

There was a huff of frustration on the other end and a jumble of voices. He heard someone hiss '— _told you this wouldn't work—', '—can't trust just anybody—', '—Impa, please.'_

"Mr. Forester," she came back to the phone, "I promise that I would not be calling you if it wasn't important. There has been a break in at my house."

Link raised his eyebrows, even if she couldn't see. He had sensed the wards she cast on her house, breaking in there would have been even more challenging than the Gengle mansion.

"This incident occurring so soon after you come to my door with a corrupted amulet is likely not a coincidence," she continued. "To kill two birds with one stone, I am offering you my magical expertise in exchange for your protection and assistance in investigating this break in."

"All due respect, I'm a private investigator, not a police officer."

"You're exactly who I need."

He frowned at her cryptic words and said, "I am a contractor, I don't work in exchange for expertise."

"Rupees are not an issue," she told him, "we can sign the contract when you get here."

Link sighed and threaded his fingers through his bangs. These rich people were all the same, throwing around their money to get what they wanted. "Do you want to meet tomorrow then?"

"Mr. Forester, I have reason to believe that I am currently in danger and am hiring you to protect me, effective immediately. I can have the contract drawn up when you're on your way."

"Wait—right now?"

"Yes, that's what immediately means."

Link clicked his tongue in frustration. "Miss, it's well after my working hours. If you want to hire me, we can discuss this during the day."

"Ten thousand rupees for the upfront cost. We can negotiate the hourly rates and other details later."

His thoughts came to a screeching halt. It was a ridiculous demand, but it was an equally ridiculous amount of money for a job. "I need—"

"Please." Ms. Bosphoramus's voice was strained. For the first time, she sounded genuinely desperate. "I know it's not your usual way of business, but I'm not left with much choice."

Link paused. The break-in at her house and whatever he would be protecting her from probably were related to the Gengle case. Accepting her offer could lead to a faster resolution for both and he could score a hefty second contract. However, he didn't know much about her or what her situation was. Recklessly throwing himself into the crossfire of a magical clash could be dangerous. The last thing he needed these days was to be pulled into another conspiracy.

But he thought about the distress in her voice. When they met, she was the picture of a composed socialite. It was difficult to imagine anything shaking her. He pictured her features marred by fear, her eyes alight with panic. The image pulled at him, an uncomfortable weight settling in his stomach. He had gotten through his life so far trusting his gut instincts and something told him that he needed to keep this woman safe.

"Alright," he muttered. "Where are you and what do you need from me right now?"

There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line. "Thank you." Her response was so quiet he barely heard it. There was a pause before she seemed to snap back into action. "I'm at my house, the same one you visited yesterday. I'm going to need a safe house to stay while we figure this out. I'll draft the contract while you head over."

"I'll be there in twenty."

"See you then." The line clicked off.

He sat for a moment and assessed the situation. Whatever he was getting himself into, he needed to be prepared. He launched himself off the recliner. He went to his weapons locker, pulled out a small gun and clipped the holster to his belt, then he slipped a knife into the ankle holster. It wouldn't hurt to be more careful, given all the strange things that were happening.

Satisfied that he was as prepared as he could be, he slipped his biker jacket on, turned on the electronic security, and headed out.

* * *

Ms. Bosphoramus was waiting on the steps of her building when he pulled up. She was dressed in another suit, a burnt orange colour that made her eyes glow. Her messy ponytail was probably unintentional, but the escaped strands accentuated her delicate features. Stress lined her eyes and lips—a far cry from the confident, unbothered woman he met the day before.

As he parked his bike, two women appeared behind her. Their white hair and red eyes marked them as Sheikah, and the similarity of their features marked them as sisters. Link recognized one of them from his previous visit.

"This is the private investigator?" The other woman asked skeptically.

Her sister murmured something in response that Link couldn't hear. Ms. Bosphoramus ignored them both. She watched him steadily as he made his way up the steps. She held a file tightly between her hands and wasted no time in approaching him.

"I hope the terms are satisfactory," she handed him the file, the edges wrinkled from her white knuckled grip.

He could feel three pairs of eyes watching him as he read the contract. His eyes widened. By any standard, this contract was extremely generous, to say the least. The hourly rate was nearly triple what he usually charged. What was going on here?

"Is this for real?" He looked at the three women. "I'm not trying to take advantage of anybody here, so I have to tell you that this is much higher than my hourly rate. If you just need to find a stolen object or something like that, I don't charge this much."

Ms. Bosphoramus glanced at the women behind her who nodded back at her.

"The pay is proportional to the risks involved in this contract." She opened the door behind her and gestured for everyone to enter. "We have some things to discuss."

Unless she was hopelessly out of touch with the economy of the real world, she was expecting something extremely dangerous to happen. Link studied her face as he stepped through the door she held open. She met his gaze, her green eyes serious. The only sign that she was nervous was the slight shake in her hand as she pulled the door shut behind them.

"Upstairs, quickly," one of the Sheikah said to him, directing him up the staircase.

When the door of the lab shut behind them, Link was all but shoved into a seat across from one of the Sheikah while Ms. Bosphoramus and the other Sheikah woman busied themselves warding the lab. There were papers all over the ground, as if someone had pulled all the drawers open scattered random materials everywhere. There was an apparent disruption in the flow of magicks. The wards that he sensed the day before were no longer present and in their place was something strange and haphazard. The magical energy moved around irregularly, like cars across a bumpy road.

"Link Forester, aged twenty eight. Former Hyrule PD detective turned private investigator. University of Castle Town graduate _magna cum laude._ Is this correct?" The woman seated across from him fixed him with her intense red eyes.

Link cracked a wry smile and said, "I didn't know this was going to be an interview. I would have dressed nicer."

The Sheikah woman did not smile. _Damn_ , these women were a tough crowd.

He tried to change tactics, "Since you seem to know everything about me, it seems unfair that I have no idea what's going on. Who are you? What are Sheikah doing outside of Kakariko?"

"I'm Impa," she responded and pointed to the other Sheikah woman, "that's Purah and I presume you know Ms. Zelda Bosphoramus Hyrule."

Link took note of the way Impa skirted most of his questions. "Indeed."

Impa leaned forward, studying him intently. Link didn't sense magic pooling around her, like he did with the other two women, but she still had a touch of magicks to her that made him wary.

"No enchantments on you?" she asked.

"None."

"Do you wield any magicks?"

"Nah. Magical signatures are too traceable. I prefer to stay under the radar."

"Then how do you protect yourself?"

Link unclipped his gun from the holster and set it down on the small coffee table between them. "The regular way."

Impa's eyes barely glanced down at the gun. "Interesting."

"Do I get to ask some questions now?" he raised a brow. "I want to know why the Princess and your sister are warding this room so heavily. Wasn't the house warded already?"

"Privacy!" The other Sheikah woman bounded over to them and slid onto the couch next to Impa. "We just wanted to make sure we're not overheard. I'm Purah." She stuck her hand out and took his in an enthusiastic shake.

"Link."

"How did you know the house was warded?" Ms. Bosphoramus asked as she sat down on the empty stool next to him. She perched there with her ankles crossed, back straight, leveling him with a steady gaze.

"I could feel it. Your magick is everywhere in this house. Or…" he paused to sense the energy around him, "or it was before."

A small divot formed between her brows and he had the absurd urge to smooth it with his fingers. She said, "How did you sense my wards before? They were supposed to be hidden."

"Your magical signature is extremely recognizable."

"But how? You said you didn't use any magicks," she insisted.

"I don't," he shrugged. "I've just always been really in tune with magical energies."

"And you're not a mage?" she sounded incredulous.

"Never bothered memorizing all the runes, spell circles, material associations. Too much of a hassle."

"Too much of a hassle? You have this natural gift and you—”

"Zelda, let's focus," Impa cut in.

Ms. Bosphoramus shot him a disdainful glare before drawing a deep breath.

She cleared her throat and said, "My apologies. I've requested your services on such notice because there was a break in that took place earlier today. As you noted earlier, whoever broke into my house was able to dismantle the wards that I cast. It was no simple task and so I am worried for my own safety."

"Aren't the police investigating this already?"

"Yes, but without anything being stolen and without any physical evidence, it will likely be low on their priorities list."

"And you want me to investigate this."

"No, I want us to look into it together. But I need a safe place to stay while we do that."

"Mr. Forester," Impa drew his attention, "do you have a family?"

"I mean, don't we all have family?"

Purah snickered and Impa rolled her eyes impatiently and said, "No, that's obviously not what I meant."

Link shook his head, "My extended family are south in Deya. It's just me in Castle Town."

"Alright," Ms. Bosphoramus said, "alright, we can work with this. Could you please look at the second page in the file?"

He looked. It was a non-disclosure agreement. It wasn't that uncommon that his clients wanted him to sign one. The number of infidelities that he had investigated and subsequently been legally bound to keep under wraps was astounding. But there was something more serious happening here.

"That's fine," he said. "I've been a PI for years, I know the importance of secrets."

"This isn't just about secrets," Impa hissed, "it's about her life."

"For the amount of money you're paying me, I'd probably have to take a bullet for you or something, huh?" he said dryly.

"Before we can tell you the details of the case, you have to sign the NDA. There's a clause in there that says if you decide not to take the case, I have permission to cast a spell that will…let's just say deter you from speaking about the details with anybody else. Do you agree to the terms?" Ms. Bosphoramus held a pen out to him, her large green eyes fixed on him.

They were seated close enough that he could see the flecks of blue in her eyes. Despite his instinctual hesitation at the request, Link suddenly felt like there was nothing in the world that he could deny her. She could be very distracting, if he let her.

"Yeah," he breathed, taking the pen from her. He dropped his gaze to the table, their eye contact breaking like a physical thing.

Without flourish, he signed the non-disclosure agreement. The only sound was the scratch of pen on paper. He set the pen down on the table.

Impa watched him evenly while Purah took one Ms. Bosphoramus's hands between her own. On her part, the Princess of Magicks didn't seem to have an obvious reaction. She held tension in her shoulders and a shuttered expression on her face. She gave him a terse nod when their eyes met again.

"So what is this case about?" he prompted.

Impa glanced at the two other women before speaking, "We need you to work with us to find who broke into the house."

"I know that already," Link said impatiently. "What's the part that required the NDA?"

"Whoever broke into the house was looking for something. They were looking for some family heirlooms that cannot fall into the wrong hands." Impa said.

"They were hoping I would be home, I think," Ms. Bosphoramus offered, "They needed me to tell them where it was. So I need you to keep me safe while we figure out who it was."

"So what's the heirloom?"

The three women exchanged a look again. He clenched his jaw in frustration, "Aren't we beyond this? I've signed your NDA and if I'm going to take this case, I need to know the details."

"Mr. Forester," Impa began indignantly. "You must understand—"

"No Impa, he's right." Ms. Bosphoramus interrupted her and turned to Link, "You're right. You need to know the details before you commit to anything."

She pulled a chain over her head and set the necklace down on the table in front of them. "They were looking for these."

Link leaned forward for a better look. There were two gold rings strung on a silver chain. One of the rings had a large, shimmering green gem and the other had three blue crystals set into the mount. Even from a distance, he could feel the swell of magical energy that surrounded them. The magicks were unlike anything he had ever felt before. There was a wildness in them, an ancient, primal energy that didn't belong to anything in this world.

"What is this?"

"They're Spiritual Stones," Ms. Bosphoramus told him, "They've been passed on in my family for generations. We've never been quite sure what they do, but any basic mage can sense the energy that the stones emit. My family has guarded them for generations because of their potential to be abused in the wrong hands."

"And who exactly would be these wrong hands?"

"I don't _know._ " Frustration was apparent in her voice, "For as long as I can remember, I’ve been told that I need to protect these stones with my life, but I don't even know what I'm protecting them from."

"Have there been attempts to steal them before?"

"Not recently. But…" Impa's gaze flickered over to Ms. Bosphoramus, who looked pointedly away, "over twenty years ago someone stole the third stone in the set. It was called the Goron ruby."

"And they didn't catch the thief?"

"No," Ms. Bosphoramus said, her voice bitter and hard, "they never caught the thief."

Purah leaned forward and set her hand on Ms. Bosphoramus's knee in a gesture of comfort. There was something more to the incident than they were telling him. He would have to investigate that further later.

"You think it's the same person?" Link asked.

"We suspect it, yes." Impa said, "If it's not the same person, it's probably for the same cause. We need you to keep Ms. Bosphoramus safe while we figure out who is after her and stop them."

Purah piped up, "We need you to provide her with a safe house and keep her safe."

"So that's the deal. Keep her safe and find the person who committed the B&E. Sounds simple enough." Link said, "But what's with the massive contract? What kind of risks are you paying me to take?"

"Whoever is after these stones is dangerous." Ms. Bosphoramus replied as she slipped the necklace back on. "They will stop at nothing to get their hands on these. They won't hesitate to kill anyone who stands in their way. And if they are a mage capable of breaking my wards, they have extremely strong magicks at their disposal too. That's the risk."

Link picked up the pen, "Sounds exciting. I'm in."

* * *

It took a little finagling to attach all of Ms. Bosphoramus's bags to the back of his motorcycle. She had initially suggested taking her private car, but he'd argued that it was too ostentatious and would undoubtedly attract attention to the safe house. After some discussion, she had conceded the point.

It took a bit more finagling to convince the Sheikah that it would be safe for the two of them to go into hiding alone. Impa had insisted that she come along with them, but Ms. Bosphoramus reminded her of her duties to the clan. Purah volunteered, but was reminded that the lab needed her. Link promised that once they were at the safe house, they would be in touch. With much reluctance, the Sheikah helped cast magick concealment enchantments on them before watching the two of them hop on his bike and speed away.

Like any good paranoid former cop, Link maintained a safe house separate from his regular home. He was grateful for his unintentional foresight now, as he made his way through town. It made helping someone in danger disappear much easier.

Ms. Bosphoramus sat close behind him, her arms clasped loosely around his waist. He was acutely aware of the warmth of her body behind his, especially in the chill of the night air. With their helmets on, there was no opportunity for conversation, but he wondered what she was thinking as she sped through the night on the back of a motorcycle driven by a near stranger. He wondered how she could possibly trust him. He wondered if she also felt the sense of familiarity with him that he felt with her.

The twists and turns of the city led them to the student quarter of Castle Town. The streets were empty, save for a handful of college students stumbling home after a drunken night out. Their shouts and laughter rang out as the motorcycle zoomed past them.

They stopped in front of a door wedged between a Rito gastropub and a locksmith's storefront. Link pulled the bike into an open spot in front of the building and parked. He hopped off his bike and took his helmet off.

Offering his hand to help Ms. Bosphoramus off the bike, he said, "Home sweet home."

She climbed off the bike awkwardly and used his hand to steady herself. His fingers tingled from the contact. She pulled the helmet off, shaking her long hair free as she did so. He could smell a hint of her floral shampoo.

"This is your 'off the grid' safe house?" She asked him with a raised brow. "An apartment within the city?"

"An apartment in the student ghetto that I pay for in cash every month," he told her, "The landlord thinks I'm Ravio, a graduate student who's never gonna finish his degree."

"Still," she looked skeptical, "wouldn't it be better to hide in some cabin in the woods or something?"

"Don't be cliche, Princess," Link gave her a sidelong glance as he took the helmet from her, "not all safe houses need to be spooky isolated cabins. Besides, where better to hide than among the thousands of college students who are constantly in and out of town?"

She seemed to consider that for a moment, her green eyes studied the beat up building facade. "Alright," she conceded, "I suppose hiding a needle in a haystack is one way to do it."

"Come on now," he unstrapped her bags from the bike and pulled them over his shoulder, "let's get inside."

Together they made their way to the door. The front door was covered in half chipped paint and Link had to jiggle the key a little for the lock to unlatch. The door swung open into a narrow staircase and he gestured for her to go first. He keyed in the security code at the hidden panel by the entrance. He could feel her watching him as he went through a series of security checks. When he was done, they ascended the stairs.

At the top of the staircase, he flipped the lightswitch and set her bags down by the futon couch. The furniture in the apartment was cheap mass produced crap he’d gotten at the local Malo Mart. He had decided that his rupees were better spent reinforcing the security system. The walls were a neutral shade of eggshell white and the floor was covered in faux hardwood. He'd laid down large, shaggy rugs to muffle both the sounds from downstairs and the sounds of his own movements.

He turned to Ms. Bosphoramus with a quip about the place not suiting her fancy lifestyle, but stopped when he noticed the slight slump in her shoulders. Her eyes stared vacantly at the room in front of her. She had her hands clasped around her elbows as if she was holding herself together. Suddenly, he realized how tired she must have been.

"Ah, here," he led her down the short hallway to the main bedroom, "This is the bedroom and the bathroom is just the next door over. Why don't you wash up and get some rest? I'll check in with you tomorrow."

Link turned to move her bags into the bedroom, but as he passed her, she grabbed his wrist.

"What do you mean check in tomorrow?" she asked.

"Uh," he looked down at where their hands were connected, momentarily distracted. "I mean I'm going to set the security system and make sure nobody can get in and then let you rest. I'll come back in the morning and we can come up with a plan."

"You can't." There was a tremor underneath the firmness of her tone.

"What?"

She shook her head and said, "You can't just leave me here alone. I've hired you to keep me safe and I don't know how safe I am in this apartment."

"I've paid a shiny rupee for the security upgrades to this place," he told her, "there aren't many safer places in this city."

"Please," she let go of his wrist and wrapped her arms around herself again, "I just…I'd feel safer if you stayed."

Link was struck again by the feeling that he _needed_ to protect this woman. The feeling that even though they'd just met, she held some sway over him that he didn't understand. She raised her eyes to meet his.

He sighed. "Alright. But I need to run back to my place to get my overnight bag."

She looked nervous, but she nodded. "Okay, I'll see you soon then."

He glanced at his watch; it was five past four, no wonder he was so tired. "I'll be back in an hour or so. Try to get some rest."

* * *

Link got back to the safe house faster than he'd estimated. His getaway bag was always ready to go and he had a lot of supplies stocked up at the safe house already, so he was in and out of his place quickly.

The apartment was silent when he returned, but he could see the light still on under the door of Ms. Bosphoramus's room. He knocked on the door softly. When she didn't respond, he cracked the door open.

She was sitting on the floor against the bed, asleep, a crowbar clutched to her chest. She must have packed that herself, because it wasn't his. He nearly smiled because it was a bit silly —her magicks were far more dangerous than any threat she could possibly have posed with that crowbar. But as he stepped closer, he noticed that her brows were knotted together even in sleep and her cheeks were dusted with tear tracks. With a jolt, he realized how much she was holding in all night and how close she must have been to falling apart.

Her home, her sanctuary had been broken into. The intruder had overcome her strongest defenses in a search for a relic that she'd been told time and time again that she was to give her life to protect. This incident made everything real. Made her feel defenseless. But she still put on a front of composure and confidence. He felt a rush of admiration for her strength of will.

Softly, so he wouldn't startle her, he stepped forward.

"Hey," he murmured, approaching her with his hands up, palms facing her.

At the sound of his voice, she jerked awake. She tightened the grip on the crowbar as her head shot up.

"Easy," he took a few steps closer, "it's just me."

"Mr. Forester?" She rubbed at one eye with the heel of her palm.

"Link," he corrected her.

"Link," she repeated sleepily, "you came back."

"I told you I would. You're safe now, so let's get you to bed, Ms. Bosphoramus."

"Zelda," she mumbled as he helped her up, taking the crowbar from her. "Call me Zelda, I'm so tired of being Ms. Bosphoramus."

A rush of warmth spread across his chest at her words. That feeling of familiarity resurfaced again. _Zelda._ _She is Zelda._

He made his way to the door as she climbed into the bed. Belatedly, he noticed that she'd changed into a pajama set with a blue floral print. It suited her, somehow. She ran her fingers through her hair, not caring that he hovered in the room. After a moment, she laid down, her eyes half lidded as she watched him.

"G'night," she mumbled as she settled in, seemingly satisfied that she was safe now that he was back.

He took one last glance at her. Her hair splayed across the pillow, her eyelids fluttered as she fell asleep. The strong front she'd held all day dissolved as she drifted off. Curled up in bed, she looked so fragile and human. He would keep her safe, he vowed as he flipped the light off.

"Goodnight, Zelda."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you for reading and I would love to hear what you think! Another plug for [my Tumblr](https://bhujerbanwrites.tumblr.com/) where you can see [another set of drawings I did of PI!Link and Witch!Zelda](https://bhujerbanwrites.tumblr.com/post/630186342427574272/heres-private-investigator-link-and-urban-witch).


	4. A New Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm _so_ sorry about the extended delay on this chapter. For those of you that don't follow me on Tumblr, I was working on this and the next chapter but had trouble with my writing software and lost chapter 5 (😢) and lost a lot of writing momentum. But I've been sitting on this chapter for a while, so I figured I should just post it!!
> 
> Thanks for sticking with me! Happy new year, friends 💕
> 
> As always, this chapter was beta-read by and would not have happened without the encouragement of [dontwaitupxx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontwaitupxx/pseuds/dontwaitupxx).

Zelda woke up in a room that was not hers. The empty white walls were a stark contrast from her bookcase lined room. The sheets were a crisp, fresh scent, completely different from her regular lavender scented detergent. But the most jarring difference was the complete lack of wards and enchantments surrounding her.

She sat up in bed and blinked. That's right, she was at a safe house after her house had been broken into. Link's House. She set her head between her hands. Her eyes were slightly swollen from the torrent of tears she'd shed after Link left the apartment; anxiety, stress and frustration had bubbled out of her the moment she was alone. Things had spiraled out of her control yesterday and now she was here. She took a deep breath. One step at a time. First, she had to get in touch with the Sheikah to let them know everything was okay.

After the adrenaline wore off last night, she crashed almost immediately and didn't get a chance to call Impa or Purah. She planted herself right in front of the door and willed herself to stay on guard until Link's return. She glanced at the crowbar on the night stand and recalled his voice, low and steady as he convinced her to go to bed. Zelda rubbed her eyes, wincing as she felt the salt flake off her face. It was embarrassing to have someone see her in such a state—she would have to apologize. Call Impa, apologize to Link. Alright. She could do that.

Mind made up, she swung her legs off the bed and padded over to her bag. At least she had the good sense to plug her phone in to charge last night before she passed out. A quick scroll on the lock screen showed multiple texts and missed calls from both Impa and Purah.

The last message from Purah at around 4 AM read 'Zellie if you don't check in soon, Impa is going to send a search party.' and, ominously, Impa's final text was at 5 AM with a single question mark. Zelda glanced at the time: a little after eight thirty. She hadn't gotten much sleep, but she'd already overslept her regular waking hours and her internal clock would not let her stay in bed anymore.

She pulled up Impa's number and dialed. The phone rang just once before it was picked up.

"Impa, I'm fine," Zelda said, before the Sheikah woman could say anything, "I'm sorry I didn't call last night. We made it to the safe house and I was just so exhausted I fell asleep. Don't worry. Call off the search team!"

There was a sigh on the other end. Impa's voice was weary, "I'm just glad you're safe. With everything that we don't know, your safety is the most important thing."

Zelda could feel a prickle of tears behind her eyes, but she blinked them away. "I know," she said, "I'll be careful. Get some rest."

She heard a hum and she knew that Impa will not be getting rest anytime soon. Zelda added, "I'll text you with any updates. Keep me posted if you or Purah find anything on your end."

"Of course," Impa said. "Call if you need anything."

"Thanks Impa."

"Oh and remember to call Urbosa. Your godmother has been blowing up our phones worried for you."

Zelda shut her eyes and rubbed at her temples. That was right. She'd forgotten to call Urbosa after everything was decided. "I will," she promised before she hung up.

Next, she called Urbosa and filled her in on everything that happened the night before. Like the Sheikah, Urbosa had reservations about hiring a random private investigator. But Zelda insisted that they could trust Link, there was something in her gut that told her so. Urbosa reminded her that Zelda's decisions were usually based on science and reason, and that her gut was not generally part of the decision-making process. She acknowledged her godmother's concern, but assured her that she had it under control.

By the time she hung up with Urbosa, it was near nine o'clock. Zelda ran her hand through her hair and winced, she needed a shower.

She flipped through her packing cubes to find her toiletries bag. She extracted her towel from one of the cubes, tucked it under her arm, and made her way to the door. Zelda poked her head out the door and looked around. There was the sound of someone moving around somewhere—Link did promise the night before that he would stay.

Cautiously, she stepped into the hallway. There was a door across the hall, but Link mentioned that the bathroom was next door. The door swung open as she reached for it.

Surprised, Zelda took a step back. Oh.

Link emerged from the bathroom, shirtless, long hair damp, a towel around his neck and a pair of shorts slung low on his hips. When she was pressed against him on the motorcycle the night before, she had hypothesized that he was probably quite strong under the jacket and flannel. Now, she could be sure—he was surprisingly lean, his clothes had given him some bulk, but his muscles were wiry and sturdy. His strong shoulders tapered to a narrow waist and his hip bones bracketed an impressive set of abs. Zelda absently wondered if his treasure trail was that same shade of ochre brown the same all the way down.

"Zelda?"

She shot her eyes back up to his face and prayed to the Goddess Hylia that he thought that the blush on her face was the result of the steam rushing out of the bathroom and not because she was ogling him.

"A-ah, yes, I was looking for the bathroom," she blurted.

He wiped his face with the towel around his neck and she willed herself not to be distracted by the water dripping off his wet hair and down the line of his neck to his shoulders and—

"I didn't think you would be up yet," he said, either oblivious to or ignoring her staring, "You had a late night."

She focused her gaze on his and said, "So did you."

He waved her off, "I don't sleep much anyway. Thought you might need more sleep. Are you alright?"

"Me?"

"Yeah, you seem," he made a little gesture with his hands, "out of it. Spacey."

Zelda fought another flush. She brushed her messy hair out of her face and straightened her shoulders. What was she doing? Her very life might be at stake and she was getting distracted by a topless man? The one who she was supposed to rely on to protect her? Get it together.

"I'm fine," she said, adopting her professional voice, "I've already slept in past my regular hours."

Link took a step back, a small frown on his face at the change of her tone, "Alright."

"I just need a shower," she told him, "and tea, if you have any. Then we can talk logistics."

He stepped out of the bathroom, "Sure," he studied her for a moment and looked like he wanted to say something before shaking his head, "We'll talk more after you wash up."

Zelda nodded wordlessly as she made her way into the bathroom. As she turned to shut the door behind her, she caught a glimpse of Link's bare back, the muscles in his shoulder shifting as he ran the towel over his hair. She snapped the door shut.

* * *

When she emerged from her shower and wandered out into the common area, she found Link in the apartment's kitchen, fully clothed and with a frying pan in his hands. He turned to greet her, as she made her way out of the hallway.

"Hey, sorry, I'm just putting together some breakfast. I only keep shelf stable pantry items here, so food's limited," he nodded towards a small dining table at the end of the kitchen, "Take a seat, I'll be done soon."

Zelda squeezed by Link in the small kitchen, catching the smell of cooking food and the light, minty scent of his shampoo. She took a seat at the table and waited.

With a flourish, he plated the food from the sauté pan and made his way over to her. The corner of his mouth was slightly raised as he set a plate down in front of her. Her heart gave a ridiculous thump.

She looked down at the plate, "Pancakes? I thought you said you only kept shelf stable ingredients."

Link looked simultaneously proud and a little embarrassed when he responded, "Powdered eggs keep for five to ten years in the right conditions and powdered milk is basically forever. I had to improvise a bit with the other stuff though."

Impressed, she studied the food in front of her. It certainly looked delicious. The smell drifting up to her was making her stomach rumble, so she took the fork Link offered her and cut a piece off the pancake.

"Wow, this tastes like a real pancake."

Link expression brightened as he dug into his own plate, "I've looked at a bunch of recipes for these ingredients. Good to know that they work."

Zelda cut another bite and watched as Link devoured his stack of pancakes. She was only about a third of the way done when he pushed his empty plate away.

"Oh, I forgot," he walked into the kitchen, "The kettle is hot and I've got a small selection of tea. Help yourself." He held a box of tea bags out to her.

She picked an English Breakfast blend and placed the bag into a mug he offered. He poured the water for her before filling his own cup. The smell of coffee wafted towards her.

"I have sugar and powdered milk, if you want."

She shook her head, "I'm alright, thank you."

Link sat down in the chair across from her. Wrapping his long fingers around his mug, he studied her. Zelda did her best to ignore him as she ate the rest of her breakfast slowly.

"So what do we do now, Ms. Bosphoramus?" he raised a brow at her.

"I asked you to call me Zelda," she told him, directing her attention back to her pancakes.

There was a pause. She looked up at him. He had a strange expression on his face when he said, "I didn't think you would remember."

"I remember," she said softly. She ate a bit more of the pancakes before the swirling mass of anxiety building up in her stomach became overwhelming. She set her utensils down.

"I wanted to apologize," she said, meeting his eyes, "I…was not myself last night and it was a poor showing, on my part."

He frowned, "Apologize? For what?"

She shrugged a little helplessly, "I'm not usually that useless. I even forced you to stay here last night," she sat up a little straighter, "Oh no, did you have to sleep on the couch? I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have—"

"No, no," he interjected before she began to spiral, "I slept in the spare room."

"Spare room?" she repeated, "I made you stay in the spare room? That's completely unacceptable. This is your apartment. I'm the guest. I should be the one in the spare room."

"Uh, no. That's alright, I don't think—"

"I insist! I can't in good conscience force you to stay in your spare room while I take over your master bedroom."

"It's fine. I don't mind."

"It's not! I mind!"

"Zelda, I swear—"

"No, I just need to—"

He stood, the chair rattling with the abruptness of his motion. She fell silent.

"Here," he gestured down the hallway, "let me show you why I stayed in the spare room."

She eyed him a little suspiciously as she followed. He stopped in front of the door across the hall from hers.

"You don't have a pile of skeletons in there, do you?" she asked, only half joking.

He shook his head, opened the door, and flipped on the light.

Zelda made a small noise of surprise. The room was littered with weapons: blades of various length and finishes were hung on the walls, crossbows, recurved bows and arrows with fletches of different colours were displayed on racks, and what looked like a massive gun safe was shoved against the wall. In the furthest corner of the room, wedged in between the safe and a rotating sword stand, was a twin-sized cot.

"I use the spare room for storage," he told her a little redundantly.

"Oh."

"Still want to stay in the spare room?"

"No," she admitted, "I'm concerned I might hurt myself."

He huffed a little laugh before leading her out of the room, "But if anything did happen, you'd have more options to defend yourself with than a crowbar."

The tips of her ears reddened, "I thought that it would be good for me to have something small to protect myself!"

"What would you even do with it?" he asked as he sat her down on the living room couch.

"I don't know! Swing it? It would hurt if it hit someone right?"

"Where would you hit them?"

"The face? Wherever I can reach?" she frowned at his amused expression, "I don't know! You're the one that's supposed to protect me, you tell me!"

He smirked at her over his shoulder as he made his way back into the spare room. From her position on the couch, she couldn't see what he was doing, but she could hear him shuffling things around. He emerged from the room with something in his hands.

"Here, you can carry this around." He showed her a cannister, "If someone bothers you, just spray them with this."

"Pepper spray?" she eyed the can suspiciously, "Is this legal?"

"For self-defense."

She picked up the can and studied it carefully. "Alright."

Link fetched their mugs from the dining table, set them on the coffee table, and took a seat on the adjacent chaise lounge. She felt him watching her as she inspected the pepper spray.

After a moment, he piped up, "Do you know any self-defense?"

Zelda set the can down in front of her and picked up her tea. "Not really," she admitted, "well…I took a women's self-defense class in college. But it's been a while and I've mostly just relied on my magicks."

He sighed, "Okay. So your scene with the crowbar was just a bluff. We'll work on that."

"Now?"

"No, not now. We have work to do. Errands to run. A mystery to investigate. I'll teach you how to throw a proper punch later."

Zelda nodded hesitantly, "Alright. That sounds useful."

Link sipped from his coffee before asking, "So what's our game plan here? How do we make sure you're safe?"

She fiddled with her cup as she thought, "Well I think you're right—whoever broke into my apartment is probably the same person who stole your statue. There aren't that many mages that are capable of this and the magical signatures of both situations felt too similar for it to be a coincidence. I think our best bet is to try to solve both cases together."

"But what's the connection?" Link asked, "What's the connection between a ridiculous gold statue and your home?"

"I've never seen that statue before in my life and I'm not sure why anyone would steal that. But my amulet was there…that must be a sign of some sort, right?"

Link pulled what she assumed was the case file from the side table, "It was a message to somebody. I'm just not sure who."

"Me, I think." She tugged at the rings around her neck anxiously, "The same way the break and enter at my place was a sign. They want me to know that they can beat me. That my magicks can't protect me."

Zelda sat up straighter in her seat and willed her voice steady, "But we'll figure out who is behind this."

He nodded, "You said that you think there are only a few mages that could have messed with your amulet. Now that we're in this together, you should tell me who they are."

She bit her bottom lip slightly as she thought. It might be risky to share this information with someone else, but they needed a starting point for this investigation.

She sighed, "So off the bat, Purah and Robbie could have figured it out, given enough time. Some of the Sheikah researchers that they work with might have the background to do it. But the Sheikah and I work closely together, so I doubt it was them. There's Kilton, who has the most extensive understanding of raw material conduction outside of the Sheikah. There's also Loone. The mages' association has never quite been sure what she does, but she works with very powerful magicks alongside technology. Pikango works largely on illusionary magicks, but I think he could be capable of the detailed work required to hack my spells."

"Are you on bad terms with any of them?"

"No, we don't really even interact. Maybe once a year at the mages' association gala, but it's all perfunctory."

"Hm." Link rubbed the back of his neck as he thought, "We'll check in on their alibis anyway. To get us started somewhere."

"What about your cat statue?" Zelda asked, "What leads to you have on that front?"

"Not a lot." He admitted, "Your amulet was really the only thing I could trace at the scene. I have—" he flipped through the case file in his hands, "I have stills from the security camera. But the owner of the house didn't spring for enchanted cameras, so…"

She reached over and took the file from him. A grainy still from the security footage showed a nighttime view of a long driveway. The colours of the photo were desaturated from the night vision, with the bushes and trees appearing as patches against the grass and sky. However, the focus of the still images was the dark blur that approached the house. She leafed through the different images, but the blur didn't become clearer.

"An image distortion glamour." Zelda concluded, "It doesn't look like a particularly high level one though. I don't think it would have tricked a human eye."

"You can tell that from looking at the stills?" He looked a little impressed.

She shrugged, "It's in the way the individual appears so dark on camera. It's obvious that the spell was cast to trick technology and not people."

Link shook his head, "Nice to know, but this happened in the dead of night. No eyewitnesses to any of it."

"Too bad."

"Actually…if you can tell this much from the printed photos, you might be able to help me pick up more details from the footage itself. We could stop by the office and take a look."

She considered it, "If we're doing that. I might as well go to the scene to see if I can sense anything else."

He gave her a skeptical look, "I already did a sweep of the premises. I am capable of doing my job."

She waved her hand, "It's not about that. I'm sure you're…" she eyed him a little, "magically sensitive. But I'm still a mage with years and years of training." She sat up a little straighter, "Consider me a consultant. People pay a hefty sum for it, you know."

"Hmm. We'll see about going to the scene. In the meantime, we can talk to your fellow mages and drop by the firm."

"To look at footage?"

"Yeah, but I also need to tell Revali what's going on."

"Revali?"

"My partner."

Zelda frowned. "I'm not sure I'm comfortable bringing more people into this…"

"He and I run the firm together, I can’t leave him in the dark. He's a little shit, but I would trust him with my life."

"Would he sign an NDA too?"

Link sighed, "Yes, but it won't be necessary. How about we go with your bit—we'll tell him you're a consultant I've brought on for the case. Though he might question how I'm affording it, considering your reputation…"

"Ah. That won't be a problem. Hold on." She hopped off the couch and made her way into the room she slept in the night before.

Zelda rummaged through her pack before locating a small, velvet box. She brought the box out to the living room. "I brought these just in case."

Link leaned forward in his seat as she flipped the box open, revealing a pair of diamond earrings. His eyebrows rose. "Enchanted earrings?"

She pulled the earrings from the box, "A gift from Purah."

He gave her a suspicious look, "Now why would you need glamour enchanted earrings?"

She ignored the pointed tone of his question as she put the earrings on, "When you grow up in the tabloid spotlight like I did, you learn to find your escape any way you can."

He didn't seem to know what to say to that, so she took it as a victory. The ease of their conversation unnerved her a little—Zelda was never been one with many friends and to feel this level of rapport with a near stranger is novel, to say the least. But it was always good to have a reminder that no matter how familiar his blue eyes and sandy hair felt, he did not know very much about her at all.

After she secured the stud of the earring behind her ear, she looked down at Link.

"So? What do you think? Pretty impressive right?" she asked.

He studied her wordlessly and she resisted the urge to fidget. In theory, she knew what he was seeing: long brown hair, ice blue eyes, and porcelain pale skin. But the way Purah had cast the glamour, the effects of the spell tended to vary slightly, from person to person.

"You look…" he cleared his throat, "very different."

"Yes," she said flatly, "that is the point of the glamour. It would be quite useless if I put on the earrings and looked exactly the same."

He stood and she moved back to give him space. His eyes were still roaming her face, a small furrow in his brow. Her skin seemed to heat up where his gaze lingered. Eventually, his eyes met hers. She noted how shockingly blue his eyes were and wondered if her glamoured eyes had such a captivating effect.

He fixed her with a look she didn't know how to interpret, somewhere between warm and confused; like she was someone he knew but hadn't seen in a while. He said, "Blonde hair suits you better."

As the words left his mouth, he seemed to snap back to himself. Her mouth dropped open in surprise. His gaze darted to her mouth and away. He took a step back, bumping awkwardly against the sofa as he half-stumbled away from her.

Zelda snapped her mouth shut and brushed her hair back self-consciously.  _ What…was that? _ She watched as he took long, deliberate steps into the kitchen. Perplexed and unsure what to do, she stood rooted in her spot as she tried to catch her racing thoughts.

Link busied himself with something at the sink. The sound of the faucet turning on and the clink of dishes filled the awkward silence between them. Zelda held her hands to her face, feeling the warm flush of her cheeks. 

After a moment, he cleared his throat and said, "If you're ready, we can head to the office."

She blinked at him.

When she didn't respond, he glanced at her over his shoulder, "Are you ready?"

"Oh." She shook off the weird daze, "Yes. I can go whenever you'd like."

"Okay," he set aside cleaned dishes and wiped his hands on the dishtowel, "let's head out then."

"Alright." she said, smoothing a non-existent wrinkle from her slacks, "Alright."


End file.
